Sheffield house prices rising faster than central London

House prices in Sheffield are rising at a faster rate than homes in central London according to a new report.

Properties in Sheffield are rising faster than the capital for the first time in more than a decade – with annual growth of about 6.3 per cent compared with 3 per cent to 6 per cent in London.

The report, by property market experts Hometrack, said many cities, including Sheffield, were the seeing growth London saw a few years earlier, as the first signs of recovery emerged.

It said confidence was growing as consumers started to feel better about the state of their finances, helping to inject more activity into the housing markets.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “House price growth is holding up better than expected as a result of a lack of new supply of homes for sale and record low mortgage rates attracting buyers into the market.”

Nicola Spencer is the director at Sheffield based Spencers Estate Agents.

She said: “We are definitely in a better position than we were last year.

“Currently people are wanting to move for better reasons, like up-sizing because people have had children and not because of debt and this has caused prices to rise.”

Lynda Crapper, of Sheffield-based Saxton Mee, said housing fortunes in the city have taken a big upturn.

She said: “We’ve started to get ‘best and final’ offers which we’ve never had since 2007.

“In the last three months, it’s got a whole lot busier, but it’s all about location and the in demand hot spots.”